Like London, many municipalities use the money stream for infrastructure 0

London is scooping up $21 million this year as its share of the federal gas tax, applying the money to badly-needed infrastructure projects.

Municipalities can now count on getting that money every year, making long-term planning much easier, said London mayor Joni Baechler.

“We have come to rely on the gas tax for infrastructure renewal. It goes a long to address the infrastructure deficit in this country,” said Baechler.

Municipalities have received a share of federal gas tax since 2006, but two years ago, the federal government made the funding permanent and boosted the total to $2 billion, with the amount allocated to each municipality determined by population.

Last year the government announced gas tax funding would be pegged to rise 2% annually to cover inflation.

Baechler said the indexing formula was a fundamental reform that municipalities had demanded.

“Each year we were paying inflationary costs so we were getting less and less,” she said.

Baechler said the city has used gas tax money for road and bridge rehabilitation, transit and energy efficiency projects.

London spent about $52 million last year on transportation capital projects and another $19.3 million on parks and recreation projects and $8 million or environmental and waste projects.

Elgin-Middlesex-London MP Joe Preston said the permanence and predictability of the gas tax funding is especially important for smaller municipalities. “It’s a big cheque for them. If they need to rebuild a bridge for $2 million, they can put away several years of gas tax money.”